The idea of this film is great and more productions should follow its steps of exploring and fitting together the Balkan tiles! Our nations have been separated by barbed wire and self-delusion for very long time - even during the "internationalist" Communism. For decades the world next to our immediate borders has been blackouted. We are well acquainted with the life of USA or Russia, but not of Serbia or Turkey! As result we have forgotten that until 130 years ago we all lived in one and the same country and so we share one way of life, of work and of merriment. This I discovered personally for the first time a few years ago when I first crossed the Border with a sinking stomach!
As a traveler myself, the first-hand-view of this film, a lot of it shot with a hidden camera, looked strikingly familiar! It is a very crude documentary - more like a diary of Adela (the film-maker)'s journey. I think such genre of film-making could have great future if intelligently produced!
However she had higher aims in mind, and I think she failed to achieve those. That resulted in a rather more grave depiction of the Balkans, present and future, than they really are.
The persons which Adela sought in each country were from different social backgrounds - from an educated actor or opera singer (Turkey and Albania) to vulgar rascals in the local pub (as you could conclude from their initial chat on "nowadays girls"; Serbia) to nationalists the biker type (Bulgaria). Clearly neither of those could represent the attitudes of a whole nation towards its neighbours. The author should have looked for some way to make this point. Note, that while outsiders might perceive this documentary as a depiction of the Balkans as a whole, the home audience will look at it as a sequence of separate reflections - one on every neighbour - and take those reflections home. However, they are quite onesided!
The two most embarrassing episodes both happen at the end so they set the grim concluding mood. Although there were moderate and some very intelligent statements (Macedonia, Bosnia, Serbia), they are overshadowed by the emotional effect of the shocking. Unfortunately the same happens in our lives and politics as well, and that is precisely how we got the recent resurrection of turmoil.
And my last point: in the beginning one might be inclined to wrongly believe that the "true" history of the song will be relieved to him at some point. This doesn't happen and it leaves a certain degree of disappointment later. Although the pattern becomes somewhat clear for the viewer following the many partial information suggested, it is never explicitly summarised. Presenting the results from a dedicated scientific research in an epilogue would have been an invaluable addendum!
Despite the many drawbacks this film is very important for revealing the true Balkan world to the rest of the world. And to ourselves! I hope more film-making of this sort follows up. However, although it is 100% reality, it is still a tiny bit of a huge colourful mosaic! Please, don't draw your understanding of the Balkans only from it. The best way, of course, is to visit and study those countries for yourself! Believe me, you will enjoy it! :)
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SPOILER: The following might be interesting for you after you have seen the film:
In some later interviews in Bulgarian media Mrs Adela Peeva said that Iranian and Lebanese colleagues who saw the film confirmed that this song also exists in their countries. There is a speculation that it may have been originally a Jewish song carried all over the area by the Jewish migrations - "because it sounds most impressive when performed on a certain type of Jewish flute".
